Rahul Bose

Actor, Activist and Film Director, National Rugby Player,
India

Described as the ‘Indian art house icon’, by TIME magazine, Rahul Bose won the Best Actor award at the Singapore Film Festival in 2000 for his performance in ‘Split Wide Open’. In 2002, at the Palm Springs Festival, he was awarded the runner-up prize of the John Schlesinger award for Best Debut Director for ‘Everybody Says I’m Fine!’.
 
Formed in 2006, his NGO, ‘The Foundation’, works with children from underserved areas of India, and his second NGO, HEAL works with survivors of child sexual abuse. In 2009 he was voted the Indian Youth Icon of the Year - Social Justice. In 2010, he was awarded the Green Globe award for his work on climate change. In 2012 he was awarded NDTV’s Celebrity Sports Activist of the Year. In the same year, on India’s Independence Day, Rahul was conferred the Lt. Governor’s Commendation Award for Services to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In 2013 he was awarded the Hakim Khan Sur award for his work towards National Integration. In 2014, Rahul was named on the Executive Council of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs' National Foundation for Communal Harmony. In 2015 he was named GQ's Philanthropist of the Year.
 
Last year he produced and directed 'Poorna' a biopic on the youngest girl in history to climb Mt Everest, for which he was felicitated for Excellence in Direction by the Directors Association of India, received the 'Equality in Cinema' award at the Melbourne Film Festival and the Excellence in Cinema award at the Dublin Film Festival. He was GQ’s Man of The Year - Social Change, 2017. A former international rugby player, Rahul represented India for eleven years, retiring from the Indian team in 2009. A prolific speaker, he has lectured on leadership, sport, gender equality and Indian cinema at the World Bank, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, MIT, Columbia and Cornell University amongst other